Information for 9295IIED

Community-based Land Tenure Management. Questions and answers about Tanzania’s new Village Land Act, 1999.

In 1999, Tanzania enacted a basic new land law in the form of the Land Act and the Village Land Act. The latter lays out the legal framework and procedures for most of Tanzania’s rural land to henceforth be governed through a community-based land tenure management system. This devolves authority over land administration, land management and dispute resolution to the community level. This paper aims to provide a very simple but comprehensive explanation of the Village Land Act, which came into effect in May 2001. It includes a list of questions and answers about the new law, which were originally for Tanzanian District Councils as base material upon which they developed simple material aids and guidelines for villagers.